The Guardian
March 2007 Reviewed by: Josh Barber Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

It seems that filmmakers may finally be running out of Army stories to commit to celluloid. With seemingly every regiment, battalion and platoon now honored in a movie of its own, it's time to move on to other branches of the service.

When his entire team is killed in a rescue-gone-wrong, US Coast Guard Rescue Diver Ben Randall (Kevin Costner) is reassigned to train new recruits, and he's soon locking horns with high school swimming star Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher), who’s turned down several scholarships to join the Guard. They eventually warm to one another, but what will happen when Jake is assigned to Ben's old post in the Bering Sea?

At first brush, The Guardian looks like a fairly standard offering, but it uses its truly daunting 139-minute running time to weave a subtler story of these two men. There is more going on than the stereotypical mentor/trainee role, which is nice. That said, there is still a lot that could have been cut away without losing impact.

The image quality is very nice. There's a lot of detail to be seen on the water, and everything looks good, even on those dark and stormy nights. The colors are just a little bit flat, but not so much as to ruin the image. It might just be a stylistic choice.

Often DVD sound editors will crank up the soundtrack on the action scenes, a cheap effort to make the action seem more dynamic. The Guardian actually manages to make things sound good without exaggerating the audio. The action is still loud, and you will hear waves crashing all around, but by being a bit conservative, the film draws you deeper into its reality.

The extras really have as much to offer as the film itself. There is an alternate ending and a handful of deleted scenes, which are good, but you can definitely see why they were cut. The commentary, from director Andrew Davis and writer Ron L. Brinkerhoff, does a good job of explaining why all the cuts were made -- aside from the obvious problem with length.

"Making Waves" is an above-average production featurette, detailing why Davis made this film, how the real US Coast Guard was involved and how Hurricane Katrina changed the shoot. Finally, "Unsung Heroes: So Others May Live" presents a great deal of footage about the Coast Guard rescue team, including several Katrina rescues and interviews with and about the divers.

Ultimately, The Guardian is a good rental. The disc quality is good, and the extras are informative, but the predictable, straightforward story and over-long running time do take their toll. It is not a bad movie by any stretch; it's not even mediocre. It's just a bit of a chore to work through more than once.

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